BMW Opens Up About its Megacity EV Program and 'Project i'

BMW Opens Up About its Megacity EV Program and 'Project i'

By John O'Dell July 5, 2010

There's a Lot More Going On Than Automaker Had Been Talking About

European correspondent Matt Davis recently attended a key BMW technology briefing session at the automaker's invitation. We were unable to attend so asked Matt to file a report on the green aspects of the program. And here it is:

By Matt Davis, Contributor

So far, the German premium brands - Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW - have given the impression they're just toying around with alternative modes of passenger vehicle propulsion, seeming to prefer pushing greener and greener (or bluer and bluer) diesel technologies on us.

("Really, really, really, U.S. shoppers, clean diesel is ultimately more environmentally sound than any other solution," they keep telling us. And the crowds gather by the tens of hundreds as the Germans realize again that Americans are not Europeans, at least not with diesel vehicle prices so much higher than heir gasoline counterparts and diesel fuel priced so close to gasoline than in Europe, where it is a bargain compared to gas.)

But we were just at a BMW Innovation Day outside Munich and have come away with a much clearer feeling for what BMW, at least, has decided to do to stop giving the impression of namby-pambying around.

We also learned that  the whole "Project i" label BWM has been using as the umbrella for its air-and-earth purifying program is just a placeholder name.

Project i director Ulrich Kranz, formerly a long-time executive with Mini, tells us that the program has now become what "will essentially be a fourth brand for the BMW Group," but as part of the mother company and in support of the BMW brand in particular. There is currently no talk of involving Rolls-Royce or even Mini much in this high technology-driven sub-brand.

"It's a bit like the BMW M division if you like," Kranz went on. "But it's not to be seen as such a single-objective division, hence its being made a fourth major brand instead."

Here's no name yet, though, That's expected to come in mid 2012.

Earlier this year, BMW showed off the Active E 1-Series concept, with a new 96-cell "LiMotive" lithium-ion battery pack developed for BMW in a Samsung-Bosch partnership facility in South Korea.

That prototype comes out in 2011 and will follow the currently common path of availability in limited numbers via lease agreements for a fixed period.

The first model in the by-then renamed Project i stable to go on sale will be the EV version of the Megacity urban car at the start of 2013.

BMW customers finally will be able to have committed relationships with the premium compact plug-in EV, and BMW Group in turn will be creating a service infrastructure for maintaining the cars and their drivetrains, - retraining hundreds of technicians worldwide to perform the work.  Yes, the Megacity EV will be a global car much in the theme of the Nissan Leaf.

Between the rear-axle mounted single electric motor (also sourced from South Korea), significant weight reductions through use of lighter weight materials, and latest-generation in brake energy recuperation, the LiMotive electric-drive palette should provide at the very least a 100-mile range in the Megacity EV, and reportedly as much as 155 miles.

BMW will follow the route taken by most other EV makers and equip its electric drive vehicles with battery chargers that use power from the grid.

Executives were frank with us in saying that they've yet to find a suitable scheme for easily and quickly replacing batteries, although developing one has been the focus of a major push within the company.

That's the program being touted by California-based Better Place, which sees itself as a purveyor of battery packs and operator or franchisor of rapid-replacement centers (it is launching such a system next year in Israel and Denmark in conjunction with a replaceable battery EV developed by Renault).

But Kranz says that from BMW's perspective "the idea is currently a non-starter. There are so many differences t]in the various packs out there, standardization of any kind is a long way off, and each 'fill-up' station would need to have at least three of each kind of battery pack in stock. Who can afford that?"

Whatever this fourth brand will be called the message is clearly that pure automotive high-tech in all its most clever forms will be the driving force behind sustainability at BMW.

To help offset the weight penalties that come with adding electric motors and hefty battery packs - a lighter electric car can go further on a battery charge - BMW intends to use lightweight materials in frame and body construction and has begun an effort to lower the cost of the materials .

The aim is to knock both aluminum and carbon fiber off of their pricey pedestals so they can supplant steel at some point down the road as chief elements in car construction.

Part of the cost-reduction effort is to start using the stuff, so the cars, starting with the Megacity, will ride on their own dedicated aluminum architectures with BMW's carbon fiber "LifeDrive" passenger cells - currently under development - providing a safety cage for occupants.

To help supply all that carbon fiber, an SGL-BMW manufacturing partnership is set to break ground on a new factory this week in Moses Lake, Washington.

The hydro-powered plant will be responsible for creating all of the raw carbon fiber strands that will then be used in manufacturing high-volume carbon fiber parts through resin transfer molding processes that BMW says will have zero environmental impact.

Actual production of the Megacity EV, is set to happen predominantly at the BMW plant in Leipzig, but all LifeDrive cells will be pressure-stamped at BMW's Landshut plant in a much more rapid and lower-cost process than possible with the autoclaves used for composite plastic forming today.

All of this comes together to form the major message of the new mega-sustainability division at BMW. "These lithium-ion cells for instance," says Kranz, "are not simply glorified laptop or home appliance batteries, but dedicated cells that contain far more energy when charged, even on an AC charger where it can be as quick as five hours."

Most interesting of all in the rear-wheel drive EV packaging is the efficient use of space.

"We needed to have four-adult seating, good baggage space in back and/or front, and a more dynamic drive," says Kranz.

The single 12,000-rpm capable electric motor is rear-axle mounted as is the single-speed transmission and the car's Powertrain Electronics Unit. In addition to compact packaging, the rear-wheel drive will eliminate the mountain of torque steer we experienced on the Mini E.

As to acceleration, we were told that the Megacity EV (or "MCV") model will do 0-60 mph in well under ten seconds.

Dynamics will be advanced eventually with talk ongoing regarding a type of torque-vectoring assistance perhaps coming into play in curves.

While the electric-drive system will add about 550 pounds to the first EV to emerge from the new BMW sub-brand, the lightweight frame and body materials to be used are expected to peel off roughly the same number of pounds versus a conventionally powered model.

Which then means that in internal combustion engine versions of the Megacity, using the same lightweight materials but without the added poundage of an electric-drive system, the power-to-weight ratio should be outstanding.

BMW bosses smiled sheepishly when we mentioned this. 

We don't think they were smiling because of the national team's World Cup soccer performance. One BMW Group director at the event told us that  rival Audi "learned two years ago what were doing to rival their A1 project, and all of this carbon fiber and aluminum innovation got them quite...agitated."

Us too, although for a different reason. Audi might hate to see what's coming from BMW, but we can't wait.
----------
Davis attended a manufacturer-sponsored event, to which selected members of the press were invited, to facilitate this report.

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.